Goldman Group has hosted its biennial conference in Melbourne at Crown, with more than 180 in attendance from across its network, sharing highlights of what the next year will bring for the third-generation, family-owned travel group. Karryon Luxury reports.
The theme for this year’s event was ‘Be Excellent’. Gathering at the conference were staff and travel advisors from the Goldman Group’s businesses including Goldman Travel Corporation, Travelcall, The Cruise Centre by Travelcall and Smartflyer Australia; representatives from affiliate groups Virtuoso and Link Travel Group; and various supplier partners.
The conference began on Friday afternoon with an initial afternoon session of networking for advisors to connect with suppliers.
In the early evening, the group headed out on a Yarra River cruise as Melbourne turned on the sunshine.
After the cruise, we were divided into nine groups to head to a Dine Around Flinders Lane session, weaving through Melbourne’s laneways towards the city’s most renowned restaurants.
Karryon ventured to Cumulus restaurant joining Tom Goldman OAM, Ian Pryer (who has worked with Tom for 41 years) and other guests.
The conference begins
Saturday’s official conference began with an Acknowledgement of Country by Danielle Sperber, daughter of Tom and Di Goldman. Having caught the family travel bug, Sperber joined the family business seven years ago, now working as a leisure advisor.
Sperber introduced herself as “David Goldman’s twin sister, Anthony’s superior sister and the preferred offspring – titles I wear proudly,” she quipped.
She thanked the staff of Goldman Group who were repeatedly referred to throughout the event as ‘family’.
“Our business wouldn’t be complete without our incredible team who we consider part of our extended family. Many of you have been with us for over 20 years and your dedication is a true testament to the sense of family that we cherish,” said Sperber.
In a video shared with the audience, Executive Chairman Tom Goldman OAM reflected on his years in the industry and what he loves about working in travel.
“If I want to give a lesson to my family, treat it like a hobby because then you can enjoy yourself all the time,” Tom is heard saying in the video.
On stage addressing guests, Tom Goldman OAM acknowledged the ongoing conflict in Israel.
“Whilst this year has brought happiness in our business, I can’t help but mention the ongoing conflict in Israel and her surrounds. I pray for peace for everyone and dream of a bright future for all nations and all people,” said Tom Goldman.
Drawing on the event theme of ‘Be Excellent’, he said the group “needs to continue to strive for excellence in everything we do with our clients at the centre of what we do, every day,” he said.
Looking ahead: all eyes on cruise and the launch of Travelcall Private
Lisa Borowick, Director Finance & Groups invited Anthony Goldman, Joint Managing Director to the stage.
Anthony Goldman spoke of the growth of the business, acknowledging the new team members who have joined since 2023 and saluting employees with more than 10, 15 and 20 years’ service.
“Our businesses are excellent. I’m told that every day but supplier partners, by clients, by my mother, that we’re excellent! So we’ll continue to be excellent. Everybody, think about how you can be excellent every day.”
“The award I was most proud of this year was Goldman winning the 2024 Virtuoso Most Engaged Member, Australia and New Zealand. We are engaged, we know Virtuoso, we do the training, we attend events, we’re engaged with our clients,” said Anthony Goldman, who acknowledged David Kolner, Virtuoso Executive Vice President in the room who had travelled from the US to attend.
Anthony Goldman spoke about the creation of Link Travel Group with Flight Centre Travel Group and Spencer Travel Group, thanking Scott Darlow, General Manager Link Travel Group in the room.
“We are young, we are growing and we look forward to developing that group in the future,” he said.
He spoke about the appointment of Elizabeth Clarke to the position of Director of Cruise, along with the recent appointment of Anna Davies, Director of Leisure.
“We are very focused in the next 12-18 months to grow cruise. We’re aiming for 25 to 30 per cent growth over the next 12-18 months – so cruise partners, get ready,” said Anthony.
Launching in 2025 will be Travelcall Private.
“We’re still working on the details of this, but David needs another tool to go out to his corporate customers, to all the CEOs that we deal with, and offer them something really special so they book with us,” said Anthony.
He confirmed the group will be working with six foundation partners for launch to offer a suite of exclusive benefits; and Travelcall Private will also be available to the top clients within Travelcall.
Goldman Group will commit to sponsoring a mentorship in the TIME mentor program, with all in the group invited to apply.
Meanwhile, two new Smartflyer Australia members are set be announced in coming days. The group rejects about five applications a month to Smartflyer, firmly focused on slow growth.
2025 will see the 10-year celebrations of Smartflyer in Australia, with Goldman acknowledging the fellow Smartflyer directors in the room, Brent Wallace and Stuart Reay. A 10-year celebration event will take place in Sydney next year.
Trends according to Goldman Group
Anthony Goldman shared some of the growing trends that the group is observing, as well as issues that ‘keep him awake at night’.
He says the group is fostering the ‘modern day travel advisor’
“Our people work anywhere and everywhere. They are tech savvy; they read reviews all the time. They work with smarter client portfolios and partners, they choose who they work with,” he said.
On what defines luxury, Goldman says that the term luxury has become too commoditised.
“It’s become a marketing term. Let’s not let the other companies grab that term because the ‘lux-jacking’ that’s going on increases prices for our clients…..so we really have to protect it and drive that agenda together,” he said.
Goldman Group identified the key trends as shorter booking windows; seasonality and shoulder seasons; social media (across all ages) continuing to drive what their clients do; clients looking at awards that partners are winning; steadying hotel rates; and destination swapping.
Technology and sustainability
Joint Managing Director David Goldman was introduced by Chris Cheyne, Goldman Group General Manager as “one of my favourite people in the entire world.”
David Goldman said that Goldman Group liked to be progressive in the corporate space.
It has recently put AI through its online booking tool system Zeno. 2024 saw the launch of GoldConnect: a single-screen solution in one portal. They currently have about seven corporates working with the system, with more to be onboarded in the new year.
The group is working with two environmental companies for GoldOnline, stating that from next year it’s a legal requirement for companies of a certain size to submit all their carbon sessions.
“We’re giving them their sustainable reports and helping them actually offset, so it’s a huge amount of data that we’re working with day in and day out,” he said, adding that Goldman Group would be offsetting the carbon emissions for this conference.
He discussed new technologies in corporate travel including AI-powered travel assistants, secure blockchain technology, big data and VR/AR virtual site inspections.
Partner presentations
David Kolner, Virtuoso Executive Vice President provided a lively presentation on the future of travel and why Virtuoso is excited; plus upcoming trends, soured from the Virtuoso Reports Database and its own proprietary research.
He shared in his presentation that travel is expected to grow twice as fast as the global economy, representing more than 100 million jobs over the next 10 years.
“The work that you do when you sell travel creates over 10 per cent of the world’s GDP,” he said.
He also discussed the long term growth in the affluent travel sector and of ultra-high net worth individuals; and Australia is expecting double digit growth in next five years in outbound growth.
He challenged the audience to think about their own three year business plan and how are they prepared to grow – and examining if they have the right type of clients in their mix.
The Virtuoso Pulse Survey, which is conducted a couple of times a year, revealed that 80 per cent of Australian and New Zealand advisors are more optimistic in their outlook than any other region in the world. He also spoke of some of the recent trends revealed in the Virtuoso Luxe Report, including a cooling interest in extreme adventure holidays.
Kolner reminded guests to visit the Virtuoso-sponsored professional head shot station in the foyer which proved popular throughout the conference.
Peter Ross, Agency Partnerships Corporate, Qantas, a gold sponsor, also addressed the group, sharing news of the recent revamp of its digital channels and website; price and points offers; changes to the Qantas app; and other pilot initiatives it will be testing in the next few weeks.
He also spoke about the airline’s trial work with the Australian government to see the paper Australian Travel Declaration form potentially become a thing of the past. Not surprisingly, he said, 100 per cent of trial respondents so far have confirmed they preferred a digital system to paper forms.
Delegates also received an update on Project Sunrise A350 which will open up routes such as Sydney to London and Sydney to New York City. Virtual Reality headsets were in the conference foyer for attendees to take a virtual walk-through of what the the brand new Project Sunrise A350 cabins will look like.
Meanwhile Smartflyer advisor Ann-Catherine Jones moderated a panel session with speakers Caroline Goux, Senior Vice President Sales, Peninsula Hotels; Lisa Pile, Vice President Sales and General Manager, APAC, Regent Seven Seas Cruises; Kate Atkinson, Vice President Global Sales, Australia Pacific; Hyatt; and Francois Delahaye, Chief Operating Officer; Dorchester Collection.
The group discussed the shifting age demographic of luxury travellers; how partners see travel advisors; the importance of familiarisations; and sustainability and the impact of travel.
During the conference program, attendees also heard from speakers representing its platinum sponsor partners including Annabel Brown, Ponant; Tamara Kobiolke, Atlantis the Royal; Lisa Pile, Regent Seven Seas Cruises; and Sharon Byrne, Kokomo Private Island.
A night in Rio and award winners recognised
There was colour, fruit and panama hats, feathers, flamingos and plenty of glitter at the closing evening event themed ‘A night in Rio’ – hosted at Melbourne’s Showtime Events Centre.
The mood was jubilant as guests ate freshly-shucked oysters and moved into the brightly decorated dining area for a three-course meal. In between formalities, many guests took advantage of the cosmetic glitter and jewel station to shine with a bit of extra sparkle.
The evening concluded with an awards presentation to various members of the Goldman Group. The Kim Mitchell Award for Finance and Admin Excellence was named in honour of the late Kim Mitchell, a Goldman employee who has sadly passed away in recent times.
An emotional Goldman finance and admin team accepted the award.
The next award for an advisor who goes above and beyond was named in honour of the late Maria Paradisis who was also tragically lost to the Goldman team recently.
The award went to Adelaide-based Smartflyer advisor, Riya Thanissorn.
Three recipients were bestowed with a Goldman Group Chairman’s Award: Ana Wilkinson; Jennie Lemon; and Kate Arnst.
Guests took to the dance floor after drummers and carnival dancers got the crowd on their feet, as they shimmied and formed a congo line through the crowd, holding neon glow sticks into the night and letting their hair down to the beats provided by live musicians.
There was time for one last event on Sunday morning – a farewell breakfast at Yarra Botanica where, no doubt, many appreciated the flowing coffee and other refreshments, and the chance to say their goodbyes to colleagues and friends from the Goldman Group.
For more information, visit goldmangroup.com.au
Credit all images and Instagram reel: Katrina Holden.
